Building a Brand in the Professional Services Industry: 8 Ways to Compete Effectively with the 'Big Guys'

As our business and marketplace have changed, we have continually evolved our approach to building our brand. While the following eight strategies are specific to our history, they are applicable to brand-building at many growing B2B firms.

In the professional services business, every firm wants to earn the reputation of a trusted business partner – one with a name that instantly comes to mind. Today’s increasingly digital business environment, makes controlling brand reputation and building trust more challenging, particularly for organizations that are not as large or as long established as their peers.

"Evolving digital channels are also shaking up the landscape, enabling smaller organizations to reach farther and appear bigger, allowing buyers to develop perceptions of a brand or organization without ever speaking to an employee, all while making it hard to deploy differentiated messages."

Although people are still at the heart of building strong company-to-company partnerships, they change jobs more frequently than in the past – now requiring those relationships to transcend individuals.

All of these market forces require more care and attention to building and differentiating a brand. As a consultancy, we prefer our prospects know the West Monroe brand before we show up on their doorstep. That makes the relationship-building process much easier. But how can you earn the trust and confidence to be invited in, when you are still far from being the biggest or most well-known in your industry?

In this paper, you will learn:

How to build a marketing strategy that competes with bigger players

Which marketing tactics work effectively for professional services providers

Every organization has a different starting point on their digital journey, but one common trait delivers significant momentum toward solving the digital transformation puzzle: building a coalition of “digital achievers.”